That'll change. There's less junk on those app stores to choose from. I'm hopeful Blackberry OS 6.0 will usher in better performing and higher quality apps. I'm due for a new phone so I'm torn between sticking with RIM or going HTC EVO or iPhone 4.

That'll change. There's less junk on those app stores to choose from. I'm hopeful Blackberry OS 6.0 will usher in better performing and higher quality apps. I'm due for a new phone so I'm torn between sticking with RIM or going HTC EVO or iPhone 4.

But why will it change? It's not like these are brand new platforms (with the possible exception of the HP-ified Palm). Blackberry and Nokia, at any rate, have been doing this forever, and they've had three years to respond to the iPhone and the idea of readily available apps. It seems to me if there hasn't been much movement in those camps by now, it's just not going to happen.

They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.

Wait, if numbers are so important than the iPhone 4 has just a 5 MP camera instead of the common 8 MP we see now in the industry. Oh, wait, Steve Jobs says the iPhone 4 camera is better than the others...

App Store for iPad has 10,000 apps and the iPhone has over 100,000! More than any other app store. Steve Jobs says the more apps, the better!

It is all packaging and my recent app purchases have been more and more disappointing than useful. One of the reasons I have seriously cut back to maybe 1-3 app purchases a month (if that).

If Apple is about quality over numbers then the App Store is still in serious need of a diet. Cut more of the fat, Apple. There are plenty of waste of space and time apps that don't belong in a quality conscious store. I don't want to pay for lite demos. I would much rather support devs that know what they are doing and also know how to design something useful and pleasing to use. For an example, TapBots is my favorite app developer. Great apps with great features and (in my mind) a steal at what they actually charge for their applications.

There are not many devs in the app store that quite match that creativity and user experience thoughtfulness. There are too many no talent devs cluttering the store.

That'll change. There's less junk on those app stores to choose from. I'm hopeful Blackberry OS 6.0 will usher in better performing and higher quality apps. I'm due for a new phone so I'm torn between sticking with RIM or going HTC EVO or iPhone 4.

Yeah, sure.

Yawn.

Wake me up a few years from now. If they're still around in this segment of the market, that is.

I'm betting on seeing some useful apps after the release of iOS4,but for now there is a lot of rubbish and very few apps that had decent amount of functionality. It seems that one of the biggest drawbacks is some sort of a file system.

I'm betting on seeing some useful apps after the release of iOS4,but for now there is a lot of rubbish and very few apps that had decent amount of functionality. It seems that one of the biggest drawbacks is some sort of a file system.

What exactly do you expect from an application that is commonly priced at $4.99?

In a related note, I hope next version of iTunes has the ability to distinguish which app is universal, iPhone specific or iPad specific when in devices' app sync menu (the one where you could arrange what to sync and where or what the arrangement would be). ATM, although we could differentiate when in the iTunes's app listing, there are no way to know when you're in syncing mode. Please sort it out for people who have both devices. Some apps are terrible (read pixellated texts especially non-Roman) when they are zoomed.

It does that if you have an iPhone or Touch plugged in. But when I plug in my iPad, how does it know that I don't want my phone apps as well? It's up to me to tell it to not sync them.

Are you saying that you don't know which apps are for your phone, and which are for your iPad? I don't have that problem, and I've got a LOT of apps. I guess it would be helpful though.

And most of them are crap. Most of the apps on my iPad are iPhone apps.

Scrabble for iPhone - $4.99. Scrabble for iPad - $9.99.

There are few magazines and newspapers to choose from.

None of the SMS apps have worked for me.

If there are great apps, then it's hard to find them using Apple's HORRIBLE implementation of presenting them in the iTunes store. When I want to look for games, I want to scroll through ALL of the games, not just the ones Apple organizes into "Top Paid" "Top Free" "What's Hot", etc.

I couldn't wait to get my iPad. Now I find myself using my iPhone more.

I don't agree. I've got a lot of great apps. I don't mind paying more. It's not as though it's a lot of money either way. We're getting more magazines and newspapers all the time. Type "games" into the search box.

It's hard to believe you've got an iPad from your comments. It's certainly no more difficult to find iPad apps than iPhone apps.

when i first started looking at ipad apps it seemed in general that they were priced higher than their iphone counterpart. i was wondering if maybe the true price of development was now being reflected, or if developers might be charging more for the ipad version to recoup some of the money they didn't make on the iphone version, or if the pricier ipad apps were in some part going to subsidize the corresponding iphone apps.

it seems to me that development costs for an ipad app wouldn't be much greater than for an iphone app (especially porting an app), and it would seem that the learning curve is far less for an ipad app than it would have been for an iphone app.

observations?

Developers can charge whatever they want. With iPhone apps, if an app doesn't sell well, they lower the price. Same here. I've seen plenty of apps have their price go up AND down. It will reach the proper price.

The problem is that having a large number of apps doesn't mean you have GREAT apps. I mean, the apps that really shine, that really show what the platform can do. This week, Reeder for iPad came out, even though there are probably 6-7 RSS iPad apps out there. Sure, the other ones technically did the job, and some even looked nice, but I'm pretty sure most people would agree with me in that Reeder was the first RSS app that really had a developer that took his/her time, thought about how a user would interact with the UI, and polished it into something uniquely iPad.

The problem with a vast majority of iPad apps out there now is that they are either very cookie-cutter in terms of design or simply iPhone apps scaled up. It'll take months to years to get truly meaningful apps. And the iPad has a HUGE problem the iPhone doesn't have: a ton of space. And quite frankly, most developers aren't using that space effectively!

That's just not true. While some apps are just bigger versions, as would be expected, many are unique, because they can only be realized on a bigger machine. With some other apps, the iPad version is so much richer.

That'll change. There's less junk on those app stores to choose from. I'm hopeful Blackberry OS 6.0 will usher in better performing and higher quality apps. I'm due for a new phone so I'm torn between sticking with RIM or going HTC EVO or iPhone 4.

This keeps up with all the new iPhone and iPad apps as they come out. You can sort by iPhone apps or iPad apps. You can sort by most popular, or all. You can check each category, etc. I use it every day.

This not Apple's fault. How do you search for good music on iTunes? How about a music store? The answer is you can't. You go on word of mouth. When you're dealing with this much content, there are some that will get lost in the fold. It is up to the devs to promote their product.

For me an example of this is Air Video. I found about this through an App of the Day website before most knew about this app. I follow many Mac sites and no one mentioned it. Then, all of a sudden, it blew up. To me, it is one of the top 10 apps on the App Store.

Let's also not discount the poor icon/ naming scheme used by many devs. A good icon and a tell-all name are key to catching the customers eye while browsing the App Store.

The problem is that having a large number of apps doesn't mean you have GREAT apps. I mean, the apps that really shine, that really show what the platform can do. This week, Reeder for iPad came out, even though there are probably 6-7 RSS iPad apps out there. Sure, the other ones technically did the job, and some even looked nice, but I'm pretty sure most people would agree with me in that Reeder was the first RSS app that really had a developer that took his/her time, thought about how a user would interact with the UI, and polished it into something uniquely iPad.

The problem with a vast majority of iPad apps out there now is that they are either very cookie-cutter in terms of design or simply iPhone apps scaled up. It'll take months to years to get truly meaningful apps. And the iPad has a HUGE problem the iPhone doesn't have: a ton of space. And quite frankly, most developers aren't using that space effectively!

...that you have a corresponding BETTER chance of having some truly great apps, merely from statistical probability. What does it really matter except for those whose attention span is governed by the shortness of their SMS messages, or the stimulus of their favorite game system, how many apps there are to search through? Anyone with two synapses to rub together can do searches to narrow the field of interest, or conversely rely on serendipity to let them "discover" an app they didn't know they needed.

As for the price of the first iPad apps out of the gate - of course early adopters and early apps are going to be higher priced - until the market competition starts pulling the pricing down again. Development accelerates - it isn't linear so those predicting long times to bulk up the iPad category are not paying attention.

Geez - do I have to explain the whole sunrise/east, sunset/west to some of you?

That'll change. There's less junk on those app stores to choose from. I'm hopeful Blackberry OS 6.0 will usher in better performing and higher quality apps. I'm due for a new phone so I'm torn between sticking with RIM or going HTC EVO or iPhone 4.

Less junk - as in less apps period (therefore a lower overall crap component as a part of the whole population), or less junk as in not so many fart apps because the UI is so crap that no one would even bother spending the time to right a fun little toss-off for the general amusement of consumers and the universal disdain and blog fodder of the technophages?*

This not Apple's fault. How do you search for good music on iTunes? How about a music store? The answer is you can't. You go on word of mouth. When you're dealing with this much content, there are some that will get lost in the fold. It is up to the devs to promote their product.

For me an example of this is Air Video. I found about this through an App of the Day website before most knew about this app. I follow many Mac sites and no one mentioned it. Then, all of a sudden, it blew up. To me, it is one of the top 10 apps on the App Store.

Bravo str1f3!

I have several "interest community" blog-sites I review to see who has discovered what cool app in the App Store this week. Try using your own interests and the communities that support them to drive app discovery - far more satisfying than whining your evening away on AI or dripping snarkiness in the posts.

Wait, if numbers are so important than the iPhone 4 has just a 5 MP camera instead of the common 8 MP we see now in the industry. Oh, wait, Steve Jobs says the iPhone 4 camera is better than the others...

App Store for iPad has 10,000 apps and the iPhone has over 100,000! More than any other app store. Steve Jobs says the more apps, the better!

It is all packaging and my recent app purchases have been more and more disappointing than useful. One of the reasons I have seriously cut back to maybe 1-3 app purchases a month (if that).

If Apple is about quality over numbers then the App Store is still in serious need of a diet. Cut more of the fat, Apple. There are plenty of waste of space and time apps that don't belong in a quality conscious store. I don't want to pay for lite demos. I would much rather support devs that know what they are doing and also know how to design something useful and pleasing to use. For an example, TapBots is my favorite app developer. Great apps with great features and (in my mind) a steal at what they actually charge for their applications.

There are not many devs in the app store that quite match that creativity and user experience thoughtfulness. There are too many no talent devs cluttering the store.

... may not, in fact, be universal to all the other consumers of the iPhone iPod Touch and iPad - and therefore, you subjective analysis of what is and is not "useful", "fun", or "relevant" in the App Store orbits strictly around your preferences. Since when have you suddenly become the arbiter of taste or relevancy to the teenager who gets the biggest kick out of his favorite fart app? Since when did your taste in apps (TAPBOTS??!! ARE YOU FRIGGIN" KIDDING ME?????!!!! - kidding!!!) dictate the tastes and preferences of the widest demographic of any smartphone currently in production? See what I mean?

The more people use these devices, the less relevant any particular set of critieria becomes unless it is so broad that it verges on meaninglessness.

There are lots to find good apps - Mac and Apple specific websites and magazines, Internet searches, etc.
There's even a list on this site.http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...ipad_apps.html
People who complain they can't find good apps aren't looking hard enough.

If these numbers are true, you would never know it from using iTunes. There is simply no way/GUI on there to get a "view" - or even a grasp - of 10,000 apps.

Click on iTunes Store, choose "Browse" on the right sidebar, select "App Store" from the Browse list, choose your category. Are you sure you want to 'grasp' that huge list of apps? Personally, I just prefer checking out the top apps every week for categories I'm interested in. I don't think I'm missing out on anything just because I don't know about ALL of the available apps.

I hope the entire sweet of iLife apps get lite versions that work on the iPad. That'd shut all those saying the iPad is not a laptop replacement up fo sho'. :-P

The iPad is not a laptop replacement, it was never intended to be, it's not Apple's intention or marketing push. It is a media consumption device, which will inevitably have the limits pushed more and more in terms of creation and application. But the intent was never to replace a laptop, this is a new product sector, not a replacement for an existing one.

And following on from losgofres' comment above -those who can't find apps really do need to develop some initiative, learn how to browse the store properly and stop making themselves look stupid.

I think it will be interesting when iPhone 4 apps start appearing, which utilize the full resolution of the screen. It's not far off iPad resolution, meaning you'll be able to blow them up on an iPad screen with little loss of quality. Gaming in particular would really work.

It could even spell the end of charging more for iPad 'HD' apps, which could very well end up using exactly the same assets as the iPhone 4 versions.

So, where does that leave devices like the Dell Streak? I am certain this is something being looked into. Standardisation - not just the OS, but the platform - will be Android's Achilles' heel. Therein lies Apple's best hope of holding it off.

That might be the assumption on the surface. However, you're neglecting to realize that Apple vets the apps on its store and throws out the really lowest quality apps. I believe they said that something like 30% of submissions didn't even run.

Many apps rejected from the Apple Store end up being sold for Android - so the percentage of junk is probably higher for Android.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ascii

If these numbers are true, you would never know it from using iTunes. There is simply no way/GUI on there to get a "view" - or even a grasp - of 10,000 apps. .

So? Why in the world would you want to view 10,000 apps at once?

That's why there's a search engine. You can search by keywords to find what you're looking for.

Or you can look for the top rated apps in each category.

Or you can read computer and general purpose web sites for their recommendations.

Or you can ask your friends for their recommendations.

It's no different than any other consumer product. There must be thousands of different digital cameras out there - how do you select one? Hundreds of breakfast cereals. Hundreds or thousands of car models. Tens of thousands of shoe styles. Millions of books. There's no easy way to visually grasp all of those options at one time, either. It's a consumer-driven society and there are a lot of options. Learn to deal with it.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

I'm really loving my 3G iPad. It really is so much more enjoyable to surf the web on compared to an iPhone or iPod touch. I only use the 3G in emergencies, but it does come in handy in a pinch, and is so much easier to carry than lugging around my laptop.

I also love the environmental aspects of using it to read books on. I'll never buy another paperback again. It's truly a pleasure to read on. Being an artist, I've also begun to use my iPad in place of a sketchbook, and so far it too has worked out beautifully for me. Sketching digitally takes some getting used to, but with a stylus pen, the learning curve is not long. Plus it saves a lot of money and trees!

Having said all that, I am surprised that some of the big iPhone/touch apps have not been optimized for the iPad yet. Using iPhone versions blown up 2X is just not the same.

Where is the native Skype and yahoo messenger for the iPad? Come on guys! Chop. Chop.

Speaking of yahoo messenger, when the heck are they gonna add voice in and voice out on their iPhone and touch apps? Hopefully in the eventual iPad app.

Anyway, there are so many more apps that need to be ported to the iPad asap. Too numerous to mention. But so far, I am digging my iPad tremendously. It's not just a toy or status thing...it's fast becoming my favorite tool to use on the road to stay connected with, and YES, even create with.

I do agree with one of the posters who said charging moor for the iPad apps is kinda lame from some of the vendors....but I think as more apps become available, and the competition for eyeballs and dollars increases, the prices will come down. There ain't no reason to charge twice as much for an iPad app just because it's bigger.

Peace out.

wow

i want to get the iphone 4
but the ipad looks so great
i wonder if next year ipad will have video phone stuff on it ??
does the ipad do netflix ??? or stream tv shows from ABC WEBSITE ??

The iPad is not a laptop replacement, it was never intended to be, it's not Apple's intention or marketing push. It is a media consumption device, which will inevitably have the limits pushed more and more in terms of creation and application. But the intent was never to replace a laptop, this is a new product sector, not a replacement for an existing one.

And following on from losgofres' comment above -those who can't find apps really do need to develop some initiative, learn how to browse the store properly and stop making themselves look stupid.

dude for many many income staved people the ipad is a laptop choice
apple tried to strangle that part of the ipad
but in the end of the day who the f wants to own a mbp and an ipad
maybe a white MB and an ipad will do ?? for some ..

i dunno
if your a gamer MBP is the only choice anyway.

the public made the ipod touch into a gaming machine
and the public will make the ipad into something uin expected also

So you're insinuating that because there's less junk apps as a number, that the platform is somehow better? Shouldn't that be a percentage of junk apps sold on a store? The thing is, there's 200k apps for the iPhone and certainly not the other 190,000 are junk apps. Besides, define "junk". Who are you to say that other people don't consider your junk their treasure? We all look for different stuff in apps, and the iPhone platform gives us a dizzying array of options of apps to choose from that competing stores don't really have anything comparable, assuming you don't just use your phone for Google services and Facebook (and I'm sure there's other popular services, like Twitter, but I haven't bought into the craze... for me, Twitter is junk), but also other stuff.

It depends. For some apps, all you really have to do is take advantage of the larger screen to show more content/detail. For something like this, a universal app that's the same price that the iPhone app is makes sense as there aren't significant incremental costs involved.

For other apps, there are significant additional development costs involved as the developer is trying to get closer to a desktop app in functionality, thus would want to charge more. ...

Larger screen size, while it does allow more functionality to be incorporated (but doesn't necessitate it), doesn't necessarily mean more development work. Designing for a smaller screen can actually be more challenging, take more time, than designing for a larger screen. So, given 2 apps with similar functionality, it might actually cost more to develop an iPhone version than an iPad version.

I think a lot of developers are charging more simply because the app looks bigger, and psychologically, people will expect to pay more for "bigger" apps.

This keeps up with all the new iPhone and iPad apps as they come out. You can sort by iPhone apps or iPad apps. You can sort by most popular, or all. You can check each category, etc. I use it every day.

Here's my list of Apps review sites, randomly listed. It's a bit wide-ranging, but at least there's more than the typical idiotic "app reviews" in the App Store; "Best app ever" and "Awesome".

I wasn't even going to read the link until you asked this question, but I see many things wrong with the article.

1 - you can bump up from the 200 meg plan to the 2 gig plan mid cycle and then go back the next billing period, so it's unlikely that you pay more that $25 unless you go over 2 gigs. The article suggests you'd end up paying $150 for 2 gigs.

2 - the article projects data usage patterns in 2014 and applies them to today's prices. Competition and faster networks will lower the per gig rates over time.

3 - the article completely ignores wifi. Most people have wifi at work and at home, so a good deal of their data usage, even in 2014, won't be over 3G.

I looked at my own data usage history with my iPhone and I've yet to top 400 megs of data in a given month. I see nothing wrong with having the 2% who are using excessive bandwidth paying $10 to $20 more/month.

I do agree that the data tethering plan should include more bandwidth. Let the $20 charge there up the limit to 4 gigs/month. Most people aren't going to reach the limit anyway.

My 3G usage while at home is really low - but when traveling is between 2 and 5 GB - with at least one month recently over 5 GB - partly due to netflix and partly due to poor WiFi in hotels I have stayed in.

While it may be possible to switch plans on the fly - that is really annoying - and while yes of course companies are in business to make money - if they had an automatic switch to the plan that was the least expensive for a given month based on the fact that if they can deliver 5GB of data to customer A for $25 there is no reason why customer B should have to pay more than $25 for the same amount of data regardless of what base plan they were on.

In other words - charge based on actual usage - at the lowest rate for that usage.

Or have roll over for data plan like they do for voice plan - that would work better for me - since a month of no travel followed by a month of 2 or 3 weeks traveling would likely average to less than 5GB per month - it would be near 0 one month and maybe 7 to 8 GB the traveling month.

or when I go to canada - an auto switch to charge an extra $25 (or whatever it is) for usage in Canada would be better than the extra $60 is cost me last month on a day trip were I wasn't sure if I would make it back to the states before a couple conference calls - I got stuck in traffic and spent 2 hours on the phone on the way back to the border. If I had decided to play it safe and bump my plan for that month it would have saved me $ unless I hadn't needed to make those two calls - then it would have cost me money.

Imagine how upset people would be if there was a toll road where you had to call ahead and tell them how heavy your vehicle would be and how many miles you were going to travel on that toll road - and then your plans changed and you had to take a different vehicle and travel a farther distance - and rather than adjusting from the price for 100 miles in a compact car to 200 mile in a mid-size d car instead they charged you the rate for a semi-truck covering the entire 500 mile roadway.

And most of them are crap. Most of the apps on my iPad are iPhone apps.

Scrabble for iPhone - $4.99. Scrabble for iPad - $9.99.

There are few magazines and newspapers to choose from.

None of the SMS apps have worked for me.

If there are great apps, then it's hard to find them using Apple's HORRIBLE implementation of presenting them in the iTunes store. When I want to look for games, I want to scroll through ALL of the games, not just the ones Apple organizes into "Top Paid" "Top Free" "What's Hot", etc.

I couldn't wait to get my iPad. Now I find myself using my iPhone more.

Apparently you've never heard of google search or appshopper. GV Mobile+ works fine. The SMS apps don't work because of a SIM use limitation of the device.

My 3G usage while at home is really low - but when traveling is between 2 and 5 GB - with at least one month recently over 5 GB - partly due to netflix and partly due to poor WiFi in hotels I have stayed in.

5GB per month would cost you $55 $25 for the first 2GB and $10 each for the next 3GB. That still cheaper than the $60 per month Verizon and Sprint are charging for 5GB.

when i first started looking at ipad apps it seemed in general that they were priced higher than their iphone counterpart. i was wondering if maybe the true price of development was now being reflected, or if developers might be charging more for the ipad version to recoup some of the money they didn't make on the iphone version, or if the pricier ipad apps were in some part going to subsidize the corresponding iphone apps.

it seems to me that development costs for an ipad app wouldn't be much greater than for an iphone app (especially porting an app), and it would seem that the learning curve is far less for an ipad app than it would have been for an iphone app.

observations?

Yes.

Yes.

And....

Yes.

Pity the agnostic dyslectic. They spend all their time contemplating the existence of dog.

Actually not only is the % of junk about the same but many of the apps for both Apple and Android are exactly the same.

In many cases apps are not really true applications they are at best widgets that perform a minor function.

My wife and I both have the new EVO my daughter has an iPhone and is waiting for the new one. I would say 95% of the apps she has I have on my phone. Including games.

As for BB and Windows Mobile I do not see those markets growing but Android is certainly a growing market.

When you start talking about high level phones like the Nexus One, Evo and iPhone they are all quality phones and a purchase pretty much comes down to preference.

The only real reason I went with the Evo is because Wimax is very strong in the ATL area so I am almost always in 4G coverage.

With a free App I was able to sync my entire iTunes library on my Evo without any problems and I was able to simply pop out the microSD and upgrade to 32GB for 60.00.

Both operations systems have their advantages and disadvantages but I would say the iOS is still better. Not sure how much of an improvment I will see with Andriod 2.2 when it becomes available.

Also the new data cap with ATT was also a factor for me and my wife. With the Evo it is a true unlimited data plan because you pay an extra 10.00 a for 4G, there isn't even a 5GB cap on the Evo.

As your daughter grows a little bit older and more independent minded, from 5% to 75% say, she will surely appreciate the 150,000 supplementary choices offered by the Appstore, won't she?

When she hears her parents groaning and moaning in the distance, she'll know that Evo's battery is playing tricks on them. She'll just hum along on cruise control and reflect casually on the precocious wisdom of the silent minority.

dude for many many income staved people the ipad is a laptop choice
apple tried to strangle that part of the ipad
but in the end of the day who the f wants to own a mbp and an ipad
maybe a white MB and an ipad will do ?? for some ..

i dunno
if your a gamer MBP is the only choice anyway.

the public made the ipod touch into a gaming machine
and the public will make the ipad into something uin expected also

maybe
baby

9

ps its looks like the desktop is dead
no ??

No, it's not a 'laptop' choice, it's a new type of device for those who cannot afford and do not need a high powered laptop. Is a pushbike an automobile choice for those who can't afford a car?

Apple haven't tried to strangle anything, why would they have ported iWork if they didn't want people to create basic content on the thing. My point is that this will never be a high end content creation device with the current spec, it's relatively inexpensive because it has lower powered components which cost less to mass produce and place into this type of product. It's not a top end replacement, it's a new way of doing what 90% of the population need to do on their 'computer' - music, web, email, video, casual game play and reading - a media consumption device, however the boundaries are pushed, the A4 processor is not going to edit billboard size images at 300dpi in photoshop, for that you need a high power desktop...